Romans 13:1-2We resist the governing authorities whenever we find it convenient and remember that the governing authorities were radically more hostile in Paul’s day than they are today. The TV show “Cops” is a show about resisting the authorities that God has appointed. It is an eye opener if you haven’t seen a really good liar or amateur track athlete with more motivation than skill.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
We, especially as Americans, have issues with being subject to anyone. We’ll consider to being subject to God but it rarely moves beyond our consideration and outward into action. I got caught speeding the other day and I think the policeman was waiting for me to give him a hard time. Now the speed limit was 30 and I did thirty until I thought it wasn’t 30 but I was wrong and when he hit his lights I figured I had done something wrong and pulled over before he was really out in the road. My charge from God in that situation is to be subject to the policeman and not resist him. He asked me if I wanted to challenge the accuracy of his radar gun. He seemed a little surprised when I said no. Apparently we in Georgia have been given the right to request a recalibration whenever we are stopped for speeding based on the results of a radar gun. I think that if a person were convinced that they were not speeding then it might be appropriate but to request it just because you are able to request it would appear to be resisting the authorities that God has appointed.
We live in a society in which urban myths exist on how to radar proof your car (no they don’t work) and you can buy radar detectors to make it possible to resist the authorities with reduced risk of penalty.
Governing is naturally thought of in a political sense but it would include your secular employment and church leadership as well. We need to seriously consider our actions when we have differences of opinion with those in authority over us. God would have us always respect the position even when the individual in the position is behaving in an ungodly way. That is because they are instituted by God. In the way taking revenge shows a lack of faith in God, we show lack of faith when we panic over individuals who are in positions of authority. God will still be in control next year when we have a new president regardless of who wins the election. God’s sovereignty is not shaken by democracy. We participate in our government as a privilege of citizenship but we still know that God says:
2 Chronicles 7:14We may be subject to the judgment of God (as the context of 2 Chronicles 7:14) but we are never outside His control.
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Romans 13:3-4Only a man of great faith could have written this with the rule of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero in view. I’ve lived long enough to watch Republican and Democrat Presidents lie and face impeachment on television but the worst sins of the past few decades in the United States are nothing compared to what was going on when Paul wrote the book of Romans.
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.
We have no wiggle room for aligning our minds with this Scripture and being law abiding citizens. To be law abiding in this democracy is a trivial command compared to being law abiding with Nero in charge. If you had lived in that age you would likely have believed that Nero was the antichrist.
Romans 13:5-7So our good citizenship is not just so that God will not judge us but so that we can have a clear conscience and not live in opposition to God’s revealed will. We can never cheat on our taxes because God commands us to pay. As Jesus instructed, we pay our taxes and then give to God what you find His image imprinted upon (Romans 12:1). Notice also that we are told to give respect and honor to authorities. Not because of the individual but because we recognize the office is filled by authorities who are ministers of God. If you have a problem with this then talk to God and begin by thanking Him that we are not governed by anyone who is even in the same ballpark with those who were in authority when this verse was written. Study Caligula and Claudius and then praise God for His mercy and grace in your political life.
Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For the same reason you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
Romans 13:8-10
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Now Paul is moving from a discussion of our life in society to a discussion of our interactions with other individuals. This is a restatement of Jesus command and a reminder to keep short accounts with each other. Here, as in many other portions of Scripture, the word love is not a warm fuzzy feeling this is God’s purposeful love that works in the heat and cold.
Romans 13:11-14I think that it is remarkable how mankind hasn’t changed in 2000 years. Those who are saved are warned to wake up, cast off sin, and put on our spiritual armor. The warning specifically warns us to abandon substance abuse, sexual sin, and selfishness.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
We can put on the Lord Jesus Christ because the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
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